Inspired Weddings - The North's Leading Bridal Magazine

It seems no matter how unusual a location is, facilities and packages exist to help you get married there. But beware, preparation is everything and you need to make sure you have every base covered.

Hairdresser Holly Webster is getting married to her fiancé Richard Barritt in Spain this summer.

“My parents live in Antequera, not far from Malaga. It’s a really beautiful place and the weather is fantastic and so we decided it would be a perfect place to get married,” says Holly, aged 27, from York.

But the process has not been straightforward.

“It has meant a lot of hard work. Dealing with Spanish legalities and tonnes of paperwork is the worst thing. We’ve had to send our birth certificates four times so far, and they won’t take photocopies, so we had to pay £15 to get certified copies done each time.”

Luckily, Holly has had a lot of help from her Spanish wedding planner, Lola Lanzas, who was recommended to her by friends of her parents.

“I could not have done it without her. She is doing all the organising and legal translating. She found us a beautiful little hotel where we’re having the ceremony and reception. We communicate by email, so Richard and I have only had to go out there three times in the past 18 months.”

Lisa Burton is a wedding planner who specialises in organising weddings abroad. She says: “Researching your chosen location is the key thing – the climate, the legalities, the cost. Do you want or a church or civil ceremony? And do you want it on the beach or in a hotel? If you can, especially if it’s somewhere you’ve never been before, try and visit it first. And then when you’ve decided, book and confirm your wedding date as soon as you can. Popular destinations can be booked up to two years in advance.”

If you choose a wedding planner from your chosen location, get several quotes first, and don’t be swayed by whether they’re the cheapest or most expensive, but follow your gut instincts.

“You will be having a working relationship with this person for 18 months or more, so it’s really important that you get on well and there is no language barrier,” says Lisa.

For the control-freaks among you, beware – you have to be prepared to stand back and let your organiser or tour operator do their job.

“I found it really hard to let go and initially I wanted to be involved in all the nitty gritty,” says Holly. “But now I’ve learned to trust Lola’s judgement.”

The good news is there’s lots of advice and information around to help you. The General Register Office website (www.gro.gov.uk) has some advice, along www.confetti.co.uk and www.take2weddings.com. Lisa’s website, www.thebridalconsultant.co.uk, specialises in weddings in Cyprus, Turkey, Zakinthos, Santorini and New York for people who want an experienced English-speaking organiser based in the UK. Another excellent site is www.weddings-abroad-guide.com, set up by Natalie Wingove, who was disappointed by the lack of quality information available when she was preparing to get married in France in 2004. She has established an excellent resource and features many true-life experiences which, let’s face it, is where the most valuable advice comes from.

Natalie says: “The first step is to decide how you are going to organise it. Do you want to do it yourself, use a tour operator, or use a wedding planner?”

If you use an operator, they will organise everything for you so you don’t have to lift a finger, but it will be a set package that they offer everyone. The advantage of choosing a wedding planner is that they will make it much more personal and you will benefit from their local knowledge.

Natalie adds: “Contact the Foreign Embassy or Consulate of your chosen country to find out the legal and residency requirements. Every country has different rules and legalities about marriage, and some can take months on end to sort out. You need to make sure everything is covered as the last thing you want is a legal hitch at the last minute.”

Natalie also says that you need to be realistic about how many guests will come: “Some will be upset that they are expected to spend a lot of money to come. For those that are coming, you’ll probably find that you will have to do a lot of the organising of things like flights, hotels, travel arrangements and the like.”

Many couples choose to have a special party or blessing ceremony in their home country for those who can’t make it to the actual ceremony.

Before you set the date, check out the climate for your chosen location. Your marriage might be the result of a whirlwind romance, but the last thing you want on your wedding day is a hurricane! It might also affect the time of day you marry, especially if it’s happening outdoors. Holly’s ceremony is at nine in the evening due to the heat. And make sure you know all that information before you choose your wedding dress as what you wear can make or break your wedding day. Pick the fabric carefully. If you’re having the ceremony on the sun-kissed beaches of Mauritius, then a silk ballerina dress with fitted bodice, twelve petticoats and killer heels might leave you fainting in the sand. You have to take into account the temperature, the wind, and whether your dress will travel well. Something loose in a cool, crease-resistant fabric would be far more suitable.

But don’t sacrifice the dress of your dreams completely as it’s possible that alterations and allowances can be made for the climate. Holly’s dress, for example, has a specially added cotton hooped underskirt to keep the net petticoats off her legs in the heat. And don’t be afraid to ask for professional help when it comes to packing. Staff at the shop where Holly bought her dress were willing to pack it for her so she could take it to her parents’ house in Spain well in advance of the wedding.

“We put it in a separate suitcase and there wasn’t a crease in it when we took it out again, it was so expertly done,” she says.

After all this, though, is it really worth it?

“Oh yes,” says Holly, “I just can’t wait. I know it will be wonderful.”

And Natalie adds: “I knew that everyone who came to my wedding in France had made a real effort to be with us on our special day. It was definitely worth the effort and now I have the memories of a day that will last forever.”

For more information, visit www.weddings-abroad-guide.com and www.thebridalconsultant.co.uk.